Pros

Cons

Connecting to phones or tablets requires a separate connection for power.

Bottom Line

Hardly larger than a Tic Tac case, and rated at 100 lumens, the 3-ounce Philips Pocket Projector PPX4010 is an excellent laptop companion for deskside presentations.

March 8, 2016

One of the smallest projectors I've ever seen, the Philips Pocket Projector PPX4010 ($299.99) is the perfect companion for anyone who wants a portable model but doesn't want to carry any more than absolutely necessary. At 0.87 by 2.7 by 2.6 inches (HWD), it's not much bigger than a Tic Tac case, and it weighs all of 2.93 ounces. If that's too much for you carry with you, you seriously need to look into working out more.

The PPX4010 makes most other small projectors look big and heavy, especially when you compare their rated brightness with the PPX4010's rating of 100 lumens. The Celluon PicoPro, which is our Editors' Choice pico projector, measures 0.5 by 2.9 by 5.9 inches, weighs more than twice as much as the PPX4010, and is rated at only 32 lumens. Similarly, the UO Smart Beam Laser Projector is a 2.2-inch cube that weighs about the same as the Celluon model and is rated at 60 lumens.

No Batteries

In fairness to the competition, the key reason the Celluon and UO models are bigger and heavier than the PPX4010 is that they both have internal batteries. The PPX4010 needs to connect to a USB port (or ports) on a PC, to an AC adapter, or to another power source.

Both the Celluon and UO models also use a laser light source which, according to some studies, creates images that people perceive as brighter than you would expect strictly from measuring the brightness in lumens. Even taking that into account, however, based on my subjective impression of how large an image I could comfortably view for an extended session for each model, the Philips projector is still the brightest of the three.

Basics and Setup

The PPX4010 is built around a WVGA (854-by-480) DLP chip paired with an LED light source. As is typical for LED-based models, the light source is meant to last the life of the projector. Philips rates it at 30,000 hours.

The only controls on the PPX4010 are a focus thumbwheel on the top right, just behind the lens on the front of the projector, and a three-position mechanical switch on the left side for adjusting brightness. There's no remote and no built-in menu for setting anything else. There's not even a Power switch. To turn the projector on, you simply connect it to a power source. To turn it off, you disconnect it.

Setup is straightforward. Connect the supplied power cable, connect a cable to the image source, point the projector at whatever you're using for a screen, and focus the image. Focusing can be a little tricky with the thumbwheel, but isn't a serious problem. There are some minor issues beyond that to be aware of, however.

The PPX4010 can connect to mobile devices like phones and to anything with an HDMI port or a DisplayPort, but it's meant primarily to be a companion to a laptop PC and is easiest to set up with a PC. The only two connectors on it are a mini-HDMI port and micro-USB port. The USB port is labeled DC In and is meant to be used with a supplied Y-cable with a micro-USB connector on one end and two USB Type A connectors on the other. According to Philips, the HDMI port will also work with an MHL cable.

Philips also says the projector will work with only one of the USB Type A connectors plugged in, but the ports on some computers don't offer enough power for it to work at full brightness with only one port. With the PC I used in my tests, I saw the same brightness with one port as with two. Connecting to anything other than a PC gets a little cumbersome, because you have to have some other power source. Choices include plugging into a wall socket with a third-party AC adapter for a USB cable or into an optional Philips power pack ($39.99 to $99.99).

The PPX4010 also comes with a cable that has a mini-HDMI connector on one end to plug into the projector and a full-size HDMI connector on the other. Unfortunately, this won't work with a computer that lacks HDMI. Philips sells an optional cable to connect to a PC with DisplayPort ($49.99). For a computer with VGA only, you'll need to get an adapter elsewhere.

Brightness and Image Quality

According to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendations, 100 lumens is bright enough for a 39- to 52-inch image (measured diagonally) in theater-dark lighting at the PPX4010's 16:9 aspect ratio and assuming a 1.0-gain screen. In moderate ambient light, it's bright enough for a 25- to 29-inch image. For my tests, I settled on a 44-inch image in theater-dark lighting as a comfortable size for extended viewing. For short sessions, you can easily use a larger image.

The quality for data images is much better than most pico projectors can manage. Brightness was impressively uniform across the entire screen in my tests, with no areas visibly dimmer than others. Color balance was excellent, with suitably neutral grays at all levels from black to white, and colors were vibrant and eye-catching. The PPX4010 also handled detail well in our DisplayMate tests, with both white text on black and black text on white highly readable at sizes as small as 9 points.

Full-motion video had a greenish cast with most of our test clips, but was still watchable by any reasonable standard. I saw rainbow artifacts infrequently enough for both data images and video that it's unlikely anyone would be bothered by them. There is no built-in speaker.

Conclusion

The laser-based UO Smart Beam, the Editors' Choice Celluon PicoPro, and the Celluon PicoAir all have the advantage of automatically being in focus at any distance from the screen, making setup a little easier than with the Philips Pocket Projector PPX4010, and they all include batteries and are easier to connect to mobile devices, like phones and tablets. However, the PPX4010 is brighter than any of them, significantly smaller and lighter, and easy to set up with a PC. The combination makes it a strong contender if you need a projector to go along with your laptop.

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About the Author

M. David Stone is an award-winning freelance writer and computer industry consultant. Although a confirmed generalist, with writing credits on subjects as varied as ape language experiments, politics, quantum physics, and an overview of a top company in the gaming industry. David is also an expert in imaging technologies (including printers, monitors, large-screen displays, projectors, scanners, and digital cameras), storage (both magnetic and optical), and word processing. He is a recognized expert on printers, well known within the industry, and has been a judge for the Hewlett-Packard HP Invent Awards.

His more than 30 years of experience in writing about science and technology includes a more than 25-year concentration on … See Full Bio